A Light in the Dark
by Missi5504
Summary: He just hadn't had a particularly great day. But sometimes it only takes a single unexpected person, a light in the dark, to turn an awful day into a better one.


**A Light in the Dark**

The sun was slowly disappearing behind the horizon as the little boy sniffled and stopped for another moment. He wouldn't cry. Only little children cried and he wasn't a little child. He was seven! He clutched his right hand even tighter against the painful wave building up inside of him. With his back against the nearest wall, he let himself slip down on the floor, pulling his knees up to his chest. His vision blurred again because of the tears forming once again in his eyes. He tried to force them back in, only this time it didn't work anymore. Hot streams floated down his cheeks as light sobs started to shake his slim shoulders. He rested his head against his knees and cried quietly, not noticing the footsteps that quickly made their way towards him. They accelerated slightly and then stopped. He felt a warm hand touching his left shoulder and he looked up through tear-veiled eyes. Catherine, the queen of France, knelt in front of him, concern written all over her face.

"Sebastian, what on earth happened?" To his surprise, she – for once – didn't sound angry or annoyed like she usually did towards him. She sounded genuinely concerned about his well-being. He sniffled and tried to blink the tears away.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

"You're certainly not. Don't lie to me."

Bash hesitated, then quietly, almost ashamed, answered, "I fell from a tree branch." Catherine sighed with relief. At least nobody died… until this point.

"Where does it hurt?"

"My hand…", he carefully released the grasp from his right hand that had clutched it tightly against his body and slowly moved it up so Catherine could see it. The queen grimaced slightly and Bash was shocked when he saw the swollen, red-purple-blue coloured part of his wrist that hurt so badly. Dried blood surrounded the wound a little higher up his arm and he tried to hide it with his sleeve, but it was too late. Catherine stopped his movement by carefully grabbing his hand and pushing the fabric back up his arm.

"Sebastian… this is not from falling from a tree. I know a wound inflicted by biting when I see one."

He hesitated again but couldn't really bring himself to tell her. She would just tell everybody and make the whole court laugh at him. At least, that was what his mother always said about the Medici-queen, it was why he mostly tried to avoid Catherine and Francis unless it was impossible. The only thing escaping his mouth was another sob as fresh tears flooded his cheeks as he remembered the terrifying moments in the woods and how lonely he really was in between all these people at court.

Catherine didn't respond, she just slightly shifted, sighed and – careful not to touch his injured arm – embraced him tightly like a mother would hug her son after he woke up from a bad dream. She felt Bash's healthy arm moving around her back, clinging to her as if his life depended on it. She whispered reassuring things in his ear, she tried to calm him down in any way known to her. For Bash, it was a completely new experience. His mother had never cared that much about him and he doubted he would see her later, since she always spent her entire days in his fathers' chambers.

After a long time, he didn't know how long they had remained like that, he had stopped crying. When Catherine released him and looked at him, she slightly shook her head.

"Come on, Sebastian. Let's get you something against the pain, hm?" She stood and stretched out her hand towards him. He sniffled one last time, then nodded and grabbed her right hand with his left, the right being pressed against his body again. On their entire way to Nostradamus, Bash didn't let go of Catherine's hand and she didn't seem to mind holding his at any point.

* * *

When Catherine pushed open the heavy door to Nostradamus' chambers, Bash felt a shiver running down his spine. He didn't really know what to expect, but he figured that if Catherine of all people trusted the man with her health, he should be alright as well. Catherine went through the door and gently pulled the boy into the room behind her.

"Nostradamus, we need a little bit of your help", she announced and the seer appeared from behind a curtain. His gaze first scanned over his queen, making sure she wasn't injured, then his eyes travelled to Bash, who still held Catherine's hand and tried to hide halfway behind her skirts. Still, he could see his swollen and bloodstained arm. He nodded and pointed towards a chair near him.

"Sit down, please, I'll look at your wound."

Bash slowly let go of Catherine's hand and went over to the place Nostradamus wanted him in, sitting down and looking at the – from his point of view – huge man. Catherine found a seat near the door, watching the two from her position in front of the window.

"Let's see…", Nostradamus pulled a little wooden stool with him so he could sit down in front of Bash. He carefully grabbed the boys hand and turned the arm slightly. "What happened?"

"I fell from a tree branch", Bash repeated what he had told Catherine before. Nostradamus nodded and moved his arm in different directions, turning his wrist up and down, to the left and right. Bash flinched a little.

"It doesn't seem like anything is broken, that's good. You shouldn't move it too much in the next few days and it could hurt from time to time, but I have some nice herbs to lessen the pain you can chew on. They don't taste very good but they will help you find sleep tonight, okay?"

"Okay", Bash nodded and was about to stand up when Nostradamus pushed him back down onto his seat by his shoulders.

"Hold on, Sebastian", Bash was surprised Nostradamus even knew his name, but given his relations at court it wasn't really that special. About everybody knew who – or better: what – he was. Everybody knew the king's bastard son who could threaten Francis' throne. "Let me look at your arm." Nostradamus pushed the sleeve of Bash's shirt up, revealing even more bruised skin. It had stopped bleeding but looked worse than his wrist. Catherine got up from her seat and peered over at the exposed wound.

"Oh dear… what did this to you, Bash?" The boy avoided any eye contact at her question.

"Like I said, I fell-"

"You got bitten, Bash", Nostradamus interrupted, preparing a bowl of water and a piece of fabric. "We need to clean your wound and keep an eye on you. It's just a flesh wound but it could get infected and make you really sick. What bit you? We need to know to properly help you." Nostradamus started wiping away blood and dirt from the little boy's skin, carefully trying not to hurt him any further.

Bash's eyes filled with tears again as he recalled the moment he had been eye to eye with the monster in the woods. He gulped, trying to calm his nerves and not to cry.

"A wolf", he finally whispered and Catherine and Nostradamus exchanged a worried look. The queen decided on addressing the topic later again, when Bash wasn't in pain anymore.

"You fought a wolf? All alone?" Nostradamus raised his eyebrows and Bash nodded carefully, "That's very impressive. You must be a brave boy."

"I don't know… I ran away after I managed to distract him."

"You know", Catherine knelt down next to him, taking his healthy hand again, "sometimes admitting your fear and deciding to stop a fight is braver than continuing without help."

Bash smiled faintly at her, though Catherine could see the terror still present in his eyes. Nostradamus had finished cleaning the wound and now applied some salvation – a mixture of multiple herbs against infections and pain – before wrapping a bandage around the boy's arm. At last, he gave Bash a few leaves of a different herb and told him to chew one whenever his arm was hurting again but also warned him that too much of them would lead to hallucinations.

"Thank you, Nostradamus." Bash hesitated for a second, then he quickly hugged the seers' legs for only a second and walked over to Catherine near the door, taking her hand again and letting her lead him back to his chamber. Nostradamus just stood there, smiling.

* * *

"Now, would you like to tell me what happened today?" Catherine asked as she sat down on the edge of his bed. Bash had changed into his sleepwear and washed his face and was now climbing onto the mattress. It was late and it was evident to the queen that the little boy would soon be overwhelmed by his sleepiness.

"I'm not sure if I should tell you", Bash avoided looking at her and leaned against the top of the bed.

"Why is that? I promise I won't tell anyone. Not even Nostradamus." Catherine took his blanket and spread it out over his legs. He was shivering slightly, but fortunately he was just cold and not in pain. Before changing, he had had one of the leaves the seer had given him.

"Because Francis is kind of involved and I don't want you to worry about him."

"Now you just have to tell me."

Bash sighed. "Okay… well, I was playing with Francis and Mary in the garden like we always do, even when Mary isn't here. We let her play with us because that's how you should treat a girl." Catherine had to restrain herself from chuckling at that statement. If only all men would see the world like this innocent boy…

"And then her mother showed up and said I should leave them alone because… because-", he stopped and fiddled with the rim of his blanket in his lap, "because I'm only a bastard and not a good companion for Mary. She should only spend time with people that fit her social position."

Catherine shuddered. She wasn't one of Bash's biggest fans, but telling him he wasn't worth it in his face was too cruel, even for her standards. After all, he was just a child born out of an ungodly affair between the king and his mistress. Had it worked with Henry and her and Bash was the same person but _her_ son, he would be treated entirely differently.

"I'm very sorry to hear that", she paused for a second and then decided to do what she was thinking about, "I apologize I wasn't any different towards you. You deserve none of my comments or hatred, if somebody does, it's your mother. She put me in a complicated situation and I feared your father would get rid of me when you were born. Without Francis, it probably would have happened at some point."

"He can't get rid of you! You're basically ruling France and doing everything the king should do", Bash almost looked offended. Catherine couldn't help but laugh. "At least somebody at court notices."

"I'm not mad about… your ways around me. And today it was you who helped me and not my mother! The few maids and cooks who don't hate me explained everything to me a while ago. And you kind of are right. But Mary's mother has nothing to with this… I just want her daughter to be my friend. If she lives with us at some point, I would like to make sure she doesn't get bored, you know? Because I think she gets bored very easily and Francis can be boring at times."

"You would be a great friend to her", Catherine smiled at him and swiftly changed the conversation back to the original discussion, "What happened after Mary's mother told you to go away?"

"I went to the woods. I often do that to be alone, but then there was a noise and only a minute later, there was that wolf and we stared at each other. I think he was hurt, that made him aggressive and lunge towards me. So I climbed on a tree but he branch I was on wasn't thick enough and I fell when it broke. Then he bit me and I somehow got my arm free and threw a stone into the woods. He was distracted and I ran back into the castle where you found me." His eyes had started to water again, even though he tried not to cry again.

"Oh Bash…", she moved over, closer to him, and embraced him once again. Bash almost felt spoilt with affection, yet didn't want it to end. He felt his eyelids feeling heavier and heavier with every second that passed, Catherine's warmth and the pleasant scent of her perfume calming him even more. It didn't take a long time for him to drift off to sleep, peaceful and without all the thoughts that had bothered him during the day.

Catherine felt his breathing getting deeper and steadier until she was sure he had fallen asleep. Smiling to herself, she carefully laid him down on his pillow and pulled the blanket up to his shoulders after getting up from the mattress. She put out the candle on his bedside table and Bash curled himself together in a small human ball, cuddling himself further into the pillow.

"Sleep well", she whispered towards him and left the room. She would have someone check on him later that night and in the morning, she would do it herself again. Now she had to go and wish Francis a good night, making sure both her sons were alright before getting to bed herself.

* * *

**Okay hi. First Reign OS I wrote completely alone. Yey^^ I'm actually quite happy with how it turned out after being stuck in my head for so long. I hope you enjoyed and maybe leave a little review? :)**


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